EU, US impose sanctions against Russian officials after Crimea referendum

US President Barack Obama has ordered that sanctions be applied against 11 Russian and Ukrainian officials, the White House said. Earlier, the EU imposed sanctions against 21 officials after Crimea declared its independence.

The US has imposed sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian
officials on Monday, with the White House stating that "the
actions and policies" of the Russian government with respect
to Ukraine "undermine democratic processes and institutions
in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty,
and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation
of its assets."

Obama’s executive order applies to seven top Russian officials,
including presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, presidential
adviser Sergey Glazyev, State Duma deputy Leonid Slutsky, member
of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament (the Federation
Council) Andrey Klishas, head of the upper chamber of the Russian
parliament Valentina Matvienko, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry
Rogozin and State Duma deputy Yelena Mizulina.

In addition, the US Treasury has imposed sanctions on four
Ukrainian individuals “for their actions or policies that
threaten the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or
territorial integrity of Ukraine and in undermining the
Government of Ukraine” including the ousted President of
Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich, Crimean top officials Sergey Aksyonov
and Vladimir Konstantinov, and former Ukrainian presidential
chief of staff Viktor Medvedchuk.

Obama's order states that it came into effect at 12:01 a.m.
Eastern Daylight Time on March 17, 2014. Later that morning
shortly before 11 a.m., the president addressed the nation from
the White House in Washington, DC to briefly discuss the latest
course of action.

During his remarks, Pres. Obama acknowledged that the new
executive order “expands the scope of sanctions” against
Russia, “making it clear that there are consequences for their
actions.” He also said that Vice President Joe Biden will be
traveling to Europe later Monday evening to meet with officials
in Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuanian, and Obama himself will
travel to Europe next week to speak with NATO partners.

“The international community will continue to stand together
to oppose any violations to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity,” Obama warned, adding that, “If Russia
continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose
further sanctions.”

According to Obama’s executive order, the sanctions are aimed at
targeting the assets of the officials listed and to bar them from
entering US territory.

However, this measure cannot affect those without assets abroad,
said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who was named
on the list.

"It's outrageous that the US administration imposed sanctions
against a number of officials who represent Russia, including in
international formats," he said upon arrival in Vienna ahead
of the next round of talks between Iran and the P5+1.

"This reflects the pathological reluctance to acknowledge
reality and an attempt to impose upon us their unilateral and
unbalanced approaches that completely ignore reality."

The US announcement came shortly after the European Union applied
travel bans and asset freezes on Monday against 21 people from
Russia and Crimea, who it believes were linked to the secession
of Crimea from Ukraine.The EU list includes 13 Russians and eight
people from Crimea, and singles out political figures.

#FAC
just agreed on sanctions -travel restr & assets freeze
against 21 official from Ukraine & Russia. More EC measures
in few days...

Late on Monday the EU published a list of sanctioned Russian and
Crimean officials. The Russian individuals subjected to sanctions
include members of the Federation Council (the upper house of
Russia’s parliament) - Chairman of the Security and Defense
Committee, Viktor Ozerov, First Deputy-Chairman of the
International Affairs Committee, Vladimir Dzhabarov, Chairman of
the Committee on Constitutional Law, Andrey Klishas, Member of
the Committee for federal issues, regional politics and the
North, Nikolay Ryzhkov, Deputy speaker Evgeny Bushmin, Member of
the Committee on culture, science, and information Aleksandr
Totoonov and First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on
Parliamentary Issues, Oleg Panteleev. The list names State Duma
members (lower house of parliament) including Member of the
Council and Leader of the Fair Russia party Sergey Mironov,
Deputy speaker Sergey Zheleznyak, Chairman of the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) Committee Leonid Slutsky.

It also names Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice-Admiral
Aleksandr Vitko, Commander of Russia's Western Military District,
Anatoly Sidorov, and Commander of Russia's Southern Military
District, Aleksandr Galkin.

Among the Crimean officials the list singles out Prime Minister
of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, speaker of the Supreme Council of the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Deputy Chairman of the Council of
Ministers of Crimea, Rustam Temirgaliev, Commander of the Crimean
armed forces, Denis Berezovsky, Mayor of Sevastopol, Aleksey
Chaluy, head of the Crimean Security Service (SBU), Pyotr Zima,
Counsellor of the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, Yuriy
Zherebtsov, Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, Sergey
Tsekov.

The EU sanctions will be in force for six months, said Federica
Mogherini, Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, after EU
ministers and officials met in Brussels. According to her, the
sanctions will include visa bans and financial restrictions.
However they will not affect representatives of Russia’s
leadership, journalists and employees of nongovernmental
structures.

The sanctions are due to be expanded when EU leaders meet for a
summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, said Lithuanian
Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius.

The 21 named officials are part of an original list that EU had
drawn up last week that ran at about 120-130 people, Reuters
reported. It has since been shortened.

EU sanctions require unanimity among all 28 member states. There
are several countries, including Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and
Portugal, that have reservations about the decision. However,
there are some EU members, including Poland, that reportedly
pushed for expanding the list on Monday but failed to get enough
support.

Also, Canada has introduced similar additional sanctions
following the Crimean referendum. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper announced new economic sanctions and travel bans against
some Russian and Ukrainian officials “responsible for the
crisis”.

“Today, our Government is announcing additional sanctions
that will serve to further isolate Russia from the international
community,” Harper said in a statement. “Targeted
sanctions through regulations under the Special Economic Measures
Act build on sanctions already in place, and are being imposed
against senior Russian officials as well as additional Ukrainian
officials. The individuals targeted are responsible for
undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine
and for facilitating Russian military action against
Ukraine.”

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the damage
inflicted by possible sanctions concerning the situation in
Ukraine will be “mutual.” While the Russian Foreign
Ministry said that Moscow will respond to possible sanctions, not
necessarily mirroring them.

The EU and US sanctions follow the Crimean Parliament’s adoption
of the resolution on the independence of Crimea on Monday, which
declares the Black Sea peninsula an independent, sovereign state
and appeals to join Russia as a republic. The sanctions also come
after the referendum in Crimea on Sunday in which 95 percent of
voters answered ‘yes’ to the autonomous republic joining Russia.